Comments and Quotes, Endorsements and Criticisms

An Orthodox what?!

For those of you familiar with Wikipedia, this is an Orthodox Christian project based on those lines. It's still very much in the early developmental stages, but there's lots that may be accomplished, and of course the potential is immense. (And of course because of the open-licensed nature of Wikipedia, you can feel free to lift material about Orthodoxy from there as a starting point.) I believe the site is run by an OCA priest in the Diocese of the Midwest.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this medium, a Wiki (as it usually gets implemented) is an encyclopedic-style resource maintained as a website which is editable by anyone. OrthodoxWiki has the potential to be a massive compendium of information about Orthodoxy, whether historical, liturgical, artistic, ecclesiastical, biographical, etc.

So, if you care to, check the site out, click around, explore, and contribute. And please pass the word along to your friends. - Andrew Stephen Damick

A New Place to Play

Like Wikipedia, OrthodoxWiki is a free-content encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to (either by writing new articles or editing existing ones). In the case of OrthodoxWiki, the content is specifically oriented towards Orthodox Christianity. It was started in November, so it is still in the "ground floor" stage of development.

I've fallen in love with this new resource because it appeals to a number of my proclivities--writing, editing, theology, organizing, and technology. Until the Christmas Break ends and I must return to school, I think this will be one of my major diversions. Check it out! - Deacon Matthew

An Online Reference Tool

"I have The Complete Book of Orthodoxy which I have always enjoyed as a "quick reference" tool. This could develop into something even better." - Nicholas

Live Long and Prosper

"What a fine idea. I hope that the Orthodoxwiki prospers!" - Archpriest Andrew in Minneapolis

A Great Resource

"This reminds of me how St. Peter of Damascus was able to write his systematic theological work found in the Philokalia. He simply took advantage of the monastic libraries to gather all the information he could, and eventually he wrote based on that. Now we have the opportunity to collect and explore all the knowledge and experience of thousands of years of Church history. Let us take advantage of this and enjoy all that this project has to offer!" - Derek J. Power

OrthodoxWiki!

"Boy. I thought I was up on my obscure jurisdictions..."

I love the internet!! I get a Google news notice daily for "Orthodox" and "Ukraine". Today, there was an article about an abandoned church in Westchester and a "Bishop Bondi" from the St. Ambrose of Milan Orthodox Church. Hmmm, I thought. So, a little Googling later I find the American Orthodox Catholic Church. Boy. I thought I was up on my obscure jurisdictions. And, so I ended here, reading the article about their group; or what's left of it.

OrthodoxWiki Statistics

Search Rankings

I've been noticing lately that OrthodoxWiki often comes up in my Google searches - many times right on the front page. That's a great sign for the publicity and growth of the site. We finally have an Alexa Ranking too. As of this writing, we're number 2,079,901 on the web - up 1,777,947 from the last ranking. That's not at all bad, considering all the websites in the world! Don't be shy about writing a review over there if you have some spare time. Keep us the great work everybody! Fr. John

Update: As of April 23, 2005 we're listed as # 1,156,383 on the web. That's great progress!

Update: Magda pointed out that we've passed the million mark on Alexa - that means OrthodoxWiki is in the top million websites for traffic on the web - right now we're at 817, 773 [2] - Fr. John 12:37, 27 Jul 2005 (EDT)

Update: I just noticed that we're passed the half-million mark at 465,624. Looks like we're moving quickly through the ranks! Fr. John 23:49, November 23, 2005 (CST)

OrthodoxWiki is being used in many different ways

May 22, 2005

This month I'd like to comment on how people are using OrthodoxWiki. It seems that Heath at lamented_elegy.blogspot.com has taken to linking every possible OrthodoxWiki word in his blog posts. I'm sure our Google ranking will skyrocket as a result!

I've also been noticing cases of hotlinking. Now this isn't necessarily wrong or immoral, but if the site continues to grow this could eat up a lot of bandwidth and prove a headache for our host, OrthodoxInternet.com. I'd also like to respect those who have given us permission to use their images on this site. Therefore, I'm going to nip this in the bud - as of November 20, 2005 hotlinking has been disabled. Please see OrthodoxWiki:Hotlinks for details.

Given the nature of the internet, we shouldn't be suprised that OrthodoxWiki is being linked around the world - for example,in the French language Wikipedia, or on this Danish page. I was honored also to see a referral link from www.baghdadmuseum.org, which looks to be a well-skinned implementation of MediaWiki.

I haven't been keeping track of new memberships too closely (Rdr. Andrew does a wonderful job at that), but I've noticed a lot of new names popping up.

All (well, at least most) of these are very encouraging signs for OrthodoxWiki. All I can think of to say here is: Keep up the good work, everyone! - Fr. John